It is well known within the educational community that interactive teaching is far better instructional method than the traditional lecturing and note taking method of teaching. Teachers strive to make their interactive teaching as effective and enjoyable as possible for their students. A wide variety of games have been developed specifically for the purpose of assisting teachers in teaching their students a variety of subjects. These games are used on a daily basis by teachers from the pre-kindergarten level to the senior executive MBA programs in this country. Several of these interactive teaching methods involve the use of playing pieces.
Multiple types of playing pieces have been developed to assist in learning. Some of the types of playing pieces include stand-alone playing pieces, playing pieces with snap fasteners to attach to other objects, and magnetic playing pieces. Stand-alone pieces can be used in playing games and can include blocks, showing letters, colors, animals, etc. The playing pieces with snap fasteners and the magnetic playing pieces provide an additional advantage of allowing a user of the playing pieces to attach them to a second object to increase their learning experience. Magnetic playing pieces are far preferable for use with children due to the ease of use with magnetic playing pieces. Unlike snap fasteners, the magnetic playing pieces are attracted to forms of metal and attach to these other devices without much effort on the part of the student.
Several attempts at providing teaching devices using playing pieces have been made. For example, teaching garments such as a cloak or cape worn by the teacher that uses snap fasteners to attach magnetic pieces to the cloak or cape have been disclosed.